My Valentine
by Something Simpler
Summary: Late Valentine fic! Present day dealings between Ema and Klavier concerning a chance meeting between them eight years ago. Also on valentine's day. Will be two chapters.


**A/N**: I have finally returned to this part of the internet! I could cry with happiness! Anyway, this is the present day part of this story that I got from an idea I got from looking at a picture that **kaRINtou-kun** did. Phew. Long winded.

Link is at the bottom of the story. Though the part the picture influenced is in the second chapter.

**Disclaimer**: I own the computer and the fingers that typed this. That is all.

Exceptionally late valentine's day story a go-go!

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><p><span>My Valentine<span>

"You look especially grumpy today, Fraulein."

Ema slid her eyes sideways towards Gavin and he flinched; she wouldn't even turn her head to look at him.

"Ouch. That bad, huh? What, do you have a mystery man hidden away at home that you desperately need to get back to?" He asked her, joking though pain in his chest told him to stop lying so blatantly.

"Gavin. Can we please just get on with it today?" She asked him flatly. His heart felt bitter in his chest and all hop seemed to die. He can't let her know that though, he couldn't let her know exactly what she did to him, every time she spoke to him, slicing him open. So he answered her plea in the only way he knew how: degrading himself with cheap one liners and flirting so much it felt more natural than intelligent conversation.

"Get on with what, Fraulein? He finally said after a pause with a wink.

She growled in frustration and before he made a remark about her being like an animal today he stopped himself. Why exactly was it that she was so angry? Today of all days? Today was the day to feel in love more so than usual, to be happy and wanted. Maybe that was it though, he thought quickly as he followed closely behind her. Maybe she didn't feel any of that, maybe no one else ever showed it to her. She did practically work 24/7, much of which was his fault. So her feeling upset, or just generally 'off' today he would understand indeed, but anger?

It didn't make sense. And he hated that. Things were supposed to make sense to him.

He told himself to stop this inane wondering and just ask the angry detective what was wrong. Though unfortunately for him, the more she inadvertently shot him down, the more he needed to cover up his dying heart by acting like an arrogant teenager. He already knew how it would go; after all, he'd had 8 years experience with her. He would ask her, simply, what the matter was. She would snap and tell him it was nothing, or none of his business. He would then pursue this line of questioning by trying to be friendlier only to have her take it completely out of proportion and assume that he was trying to make fun of her, which admittedly, sometimes he was. Never the less, he asked anyway.

"Fraulein, what's the matter today? You seem more ruffled than usual." He added with a smile that he hoped said 'I'm being friendly and I want to help you.'

"Gee, Mr Gavin. Thank you for your concern, but I'd really rather you stay out of my business today."

"Come on, Detective, we're friends right?" He paused when he saw her disbelieving look. Heartbreaking. "Well, co-workers then, right? Surely I can offer a little assistance to the precincts most dazzling detective?"

"Dazzling?" She asked, staring flatly into his eyes. "If you really want to help, get rid of those screaming idiots outside. If they contaminate my crime scene, I'd really hate to have to do something to cause the precinct to lose its most _dazzling detective_." And with that she turned on heel and stormed away before he could say anything.

Of course they annoyed her, but he had assumed that just like him, she had learned to drown them out and eventually become accustomed to seeing them around at crime scenes, at court... wherever he was really. They had become part of the background noise, much like the constant ringing in his ears.

He took another second to assemble his thoughts and followed after her. What he was about to do was potentially illegal, depending on which way she looked at it. He grabbed her from behind, twisting her as he did he put a hand behind her head and crushed his lips against hers.

In the first second he felt nervous but it was replaced very quickly in the next second by electricity surging through his body that pinpointed where their lips met, in the third second he felt giddy because he had closed his eyes and all he could feel was her pressed up against him. By the fourth he had almost exploded with happiness and by the fifth has was rubbing his newly sore cheek.

"What the hell was that?"

"Fraulein, I'm sure you've had one before. That was a kiss."

"Of- course I know what a kiss is!" She said while fingering her lips.

"Fraulein?"

"What!"

"You... you _have_ had a kiss before... haven't you?"

"What? Of course I have! Shut up about it already jeez it was only a kiss!"

Gavin stared at her wide eyed and almost collapsed under the weight of this new information when she turned a brighter pink than her glasses and looked away.

"You're- you're kidding right? You're 26 and you've never been mmmf!" Ema had clamped her hand over his mouth and dragged him around the corner.

"Don't finish that sentence if you know what's good for you, Gavin." She said while letting him go. "And what the hell was that for?"

"For not kissing you eight years ago."

"For 'not kissing me'? Are you kidding, you should be apologising!" She said angrily.

"Me apologise? You know if I were rude then that would have been some excuse but I wasn't and you know that. I was nice to you straight off!"

"Nice? You were arrogant and-"

"Arrogant maybe, but I was still nice to you and recall complimenting you on occasion and you all but spat at me!"

Ema took a step back when he yelled at her the second time because their banter never quite reached a personal level like this.

"It's your own fault for talking to me like that." She responded defiantly.

"My fault?"

"Yes your fault! What other opinion of you was I supposed to have? You wander in with your floozy and just usher her away as if she's nothing! Tell me Gavin, what did you do when I left that night with Lana? Did you call her up and turn on that charm of yours? Worm your way into her bed because your charms didn't work on me?"

"I would never do that! I would never treat a woman like that! No, I'd never treat anyone like that! I- I- Ich habe dich vom ersten Moment liebte ich traf dich und du _mich verrückt Alltag_!"

"Ugh! I hate it when you do that, I don't understand German! I didn't then and I don't now!"

"I said you drive me crazy. And forgive me for trying to spread a little happiness on Valentine's Day! Did you not think for a second that perhaps you are exactly the type of girl I would have liked to spend this day with? Someone smart enough to see through my lines, that I could have a real conversation with?"

"Oh, a type? I suppose that's why you're not off with some floozy today?"

"Exactly!" He yelled and took a step back and looked down when he caught her reaction. "Exactly." He repeated, quieter this time.

"You're lying." She said. "You're doing that thing again."

"I wouldn't lie. Not today, especially not to you."

"Gavin... Klavier? What did you say just then? In German?"

"I told you."

"No, it must have been something more than that, you wouldn't have stuttered so much saying that."

"Fraulein- I _can't_.

"Please-"

"Tell me, Ema. Exactly what I've done to lead you to have this opinion of me? What is it about me that has lead to the foundation of our partnership being hatred? What have I done, Ema? Why do you hate me like this?"

When she didn't answer he looked down at his feet. This feeling of uncertainty was devastating. This was why he couldn't tell her. She could never know. In a single look she can make his day, in a single look she can kill him.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw her hands curl into fists. He wondered what he'd done now to make her angry. He looked at her face and saw what he'd never seen in all the time he'd known her; uncertainty. Her eyes were brimming with tears and threatening to fall.

She was killing him.

"I don't know." She muttered, her voice thick with emotion as one tear escaped, falling freely down her cheek.

He raised his hand to her cheek to wipe it away but withdrew quickly when she flinched. His hand hovered an inch from her face. He lowered it to her chin and lifted it, making her look at him.

"Hey," He said softly and smiling. He shouldn't be smiling. He should be asking her why she was showing weakness like this. He should be asking her why she was doing this now.

He should be punishing himself for being the one that made her break.

"It's ok. Really." He put his hand behind her head again, but this time moved her slowly towards him. He let her rest her head on his chest, her arms falling limp at her sides.

He rested his head on hers and kissed her hair once.

She smiled briefly. Their second kiss.

"I hate you." She told him simply.

It was his turn to smile.

"I know."

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><p>Already have the second chapter written down in my notebook. If I can understand all the lines and arrows and random drawings I have for some reason I should be updating tomorrow. Well, today. But later today. During daylight. Because doing work and work is luh-hame!<p>

LINK: (remove spaces) http:/lemonpuchii. deviantart. com/gallery/?offset=24#/ d2xuq3h


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